![Wanstead Flats - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Wanstead_Flats_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1447423.jpg)
Wanstead Flats is the southernmost portion of
Epping Forest
Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...
, in
Leytonstone
Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, ...
and
Wanstead
Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 mi ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. The flats and by extension the forest ends at
Forest Gate directly to the south. It now falls wholly within the boundaries of the London Boroughs of
Redbridge and
Waltham Forest
The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...
, though until 1994 two parts of it were in the
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...
: one of these was the section between Aldersbrook Road and Capel Road east of the junction between Aldersbrook Road and St Margaret's Road, whilst the other was the strip running along Capel Road between its junctions with Centre Road (the
A114) and Ridley Road.
As part of Epping Forest, the Flats is managed by the
City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...
.
Geography
Wanstead Flats is surrounded by the heavily built-up areas of
Leytonstone
Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, ...
(
Waltham Forest
The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...
) to the west,
Wanstead
Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 mi ...
(Redbridge) to the north with
Manor Park (Newham) and
Forest Gate (Newham) to the southeast and south respectively. To the north-west it is connected by way of Bush Wood to Leyton Flats, and to more northerly reaches of Epping Forest.
Roads and houses almost completely surround Wanstead Flats. To the east a low wall and high railing separate it from the
City of London Cemetery and Crematorium. Three roads actually cross the Flats, effectively dividing it into four sections. The greater part of the whole area of some is flat, open
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...
on the river gravel of the Taplow Terrace, which overlays the
London Clay
The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from ...
.
Bush Wood
In the northwestern part of Wanstead Flats, the grassland merges into a predominately oak woodland called Bush Wood, which gives its name to the
Bushwood area of Leytonstone. Blake Hall Road separates Bush Wood from
Wanstead Park. The northern part of Bush Wood is tenuously connected to Leyton Flats and the rest of Epping Forest by footpaths through the Green Man roundabout.
History
![Evelyn Avenue Wanstead Flats 1894](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Evelyn_Avenue_Wanstead_Flats_1894.png)
Though historically part of a
royal forest
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...
, the nature of the area encouraged people to turn out
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
and other animals to graze upon this unenclosed land. This practice was enshrined in the ancient
right of common pasture. Landowners within the Epping Forest area still have this right and cattle grazed freely until 1996 when the
BSE crisis forced their removal. It is probable that continued grazing on this and similar areas of the Forest helped to maintain the open aspect which they have today.
At the end of the 17th century, an avenue of
sweet chestnut and
lime trees was laid out on the western side of the Flats into Bush Wood, leading eventually to
Wanstead House;
John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's diary, or m ...
is believed to have been the designer. In about 1850, a house called the "Swiss Cottage" was built in Bush Wood in imitation of a
Swiss chalet; it was demolished in the 1960s and replaced with a large apartment block originally owned by the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
but now called Belgrave Heights.
In the second half of the 19th century, the
lords of the manors that owned the forest land began to
enclose it. In July 1871, a large crowd gathered on Wanstead Flats to protest about fences which had been erected there by
Earl Cowley. After the police had gone, the crowd broke down the fences and smashed them "to matchwood". In 1853, the City of London Corporation had purchased Aldersbrook Farm adjacent to the Flats for the construction of the City of London Cemetery. Critically, this made the City Corporation a forest commoner and enabled them to take the forest landowners to court, claiming that the enclosures impinged on their ancient grazing rights. The court ruled in the city's favour in 1874 leading to the
Epping Forest Act 1878, which preserved Epping Forest, including Wanstead Flats, as a public amenity and entrusted its administration to the city.
![Wanstead Flats 20190505 111222 (47726745442)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Wanstead_Flats_20190505_111222_%2847726745442%29.jpg)
A
fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
has been held on Wanstead Flats during the
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...
holiday since the mid-19th century, following an earlier tradition of an annual cattle market.
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
who grew up nearby in
Leytonstone
Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, ...
, is believed to based the fairground scene in his 1951 film, ''
Strangers on a Train'' on it.
After drainage and levelling work in the 1890s, the London Playing Fields Committee approached the City authorities with a view to establishing
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
and cricket pitches. Originally only were permitted, but this was later expanded to . A
bandstand
A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...
for concerts was constructed near Centre Road, it was demolished in 1957 but a circle of trees planted in 1903 shows its position. Nearby is Bandstand or Angell Pond which was completed in 1894 and a monument (originally a drinking fountain) to Joseph Fry who died in 1896, a supporter of the
Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association and the son of prison reformer
Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...
.
Adjacent to Aldersbrook Road, the larger Alexandra Lake was excavated in 1907 as an unemployment relief scheme and named after
Queen Alexandra
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of ...
, the wife of King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910.
The second chil ...
.
World Wars
On the night of 17/18 August 1915 during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, German
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
''L10'' dropped a string of bombs on the Wanstead Flats, fortunately resulting only in broken windows in 73 nearby houses. In October 1915 an emplacement for an
anti-aircraft gun
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...
and
searchlight
A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
with huts for their crew were built on the Flats.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Wanstead Flats was used as a site for anti-aircraft guns,
rocket launchers, searchlights and
barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe collision risk to aircraft, making the attacker's approach more difficult. Early barra ...
s to defend against German bombers, especially during
the Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
. In 1944, a hutted camp was built on the Flats as an assembly point for troops preparing for the
Normandy Landing
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
s; the same buildings were later used to house Axis
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
. The effects of bombing in areas close to the
London Docks
London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham, and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port of L ...
led to a large number of homeless families and resulted in the construction of two estates of
"prefab" temporary houses along the southern edge of the Flats adjacent to Capel Road, by
East Ham
East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a Major Centre. The population is 76,186.
It was originally part of the Becontree Hun ...
and
West Ham Borough Council
West Ham was a local government district in the extreme south west of Essex from 1886 to 1965, forming part of the built-up area of London, although outside the County of London. It was immediately north of the River Thames and east of the River ...
s.
Immediately after the war, East Ham and West Ham Councils published plans for building two schools, a
technical college
An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...
and permanent housing for 7,400 people on Wanstead Flats. The move was strongly backed against local opposition by the
Labour Government; the housing minister,
Aneurin Bevan, declaring that "I regret very much that we have had to do it, but the people of East Ham must have shelter... The Commoners of Epping Forest must surrender to the overwhelming needs of the people of East Ham". A Wanstead Flats Defence Committee led by Stanley Reed, a West Ham schoolteacher, was backed by
Leyton
Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...
and
Wanstead and Woodford Borough Councils, within whose borders the Flats actually lay. Leyton's
town clerk
A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a To ...
said that "if West Ham want to build houses they might consider using a park of their own".
A public enquiry opened on 3 December 1946, the application to build on the flats being opposed by the City of London, 379 formal objections and a
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...
containing 60,000 signatures.
Leah Manning
Dame Elizabeth Leah Manning DBE (''née'' Perrett; 14 April 1886 – 15 September 1977) was a British educationalist, social reformer, and Labour Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1930s and 1940s. She organised the evacuation of orphaned or at ...
, the MP for
Epping Epping may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Epping railway station, Sydney
* Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
* Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...
, threatened to lie down in front of the
bulldozer
A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...
s if the scheme was approved. Finally, in April 1947, the government announced that although the Epping Forest Act did not prevent the land from being compulsorily purchased, the scheme would not go ahead.
Recent events
In March 2010 the area surrounding Alexandra Lake was cordoned off following the deaths of more than 80 wild birds. Two men, Mark Page and Terrance Webb, were subsequently arrested on suspicion of illegally dumping chemical
pesticides
Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampric ...
near the lake. The two men each admitted two counts of using a pesticide without approval and two counts of theft.
![Covid-19 pandemic Manor Park mortuary morgue Wanstead Flats London England 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Covid-19_pandemic_Manor_Park_mortuary_morgue_Wanstead_Flats_London_England_4.jpg)
On 16 November 2010, a planning application was submitted by the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
to the
London Borough of Redbridge to build a police hub on Wanstead Flats. This planning application was granted, and subsequently a
Parliamentary Order (the Legislative Reform (Epping Forest) Order 2011) allowed the police to erect a "muster, briefing and deployment centre" on Wanstead Flats from 23 June 2012 to 20 September 2012, for the purposes of the
2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The centre was removed after the Games had ended. Another precaution for the
security for the 2012 Summer Olympics was the siting of
surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
s on the roof of Fred Wigg Tower, Leytonstone, a residential
high-rise building
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...
adjacent to and overlooking Wanstead Flats. Legal action to prevent the installation by the building's residents was rejected by the
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...
shortly beforehand.
On 15 July 2018, a heatwave and dry conditions led to a huge
grass fire on Wanstead Flats, which became the largest incident of its kind ever dealt with by the
London Fire Brigade
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...
.
The easternmost section of the flats, between Aldersbrook Road and Forest Drive, was used to site a temporary mortuary in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Construction started in early April 2020. The mortuary was dismantled over the summer, and the land planted with wildflowers in memory of those who died.
Features
Water
Much of the land is liable to a degree of flooding after heavy rain, but also to considerable and quite rapid drying-out in periods of low rainfall. Drainage from the grassland should help to maintain usually three permanent open waters. The largest of these, with two islands to its credit, is Alexandra Lake. Its local name the Sandhills Pond may be attributed to the sandy nature of the low gravel mounds by its banks. The next in size is Jubilee Pond, which until 2002 was known as the Model Yacht Pond or Dames Road Pond. Until renovation in 2002 this had stone banks, and, as its name implied, was in the past used for model boating. Lack of repair and a water supply meant that for many years the pond was often dry.
The smallest water is the round pond by Capel Road, Angel Pond. This was named after
Lewis Angell, the first borough engineer of
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
, who was responsible for the construction of the pond during the winter of 1893–94. The spelling soon became corrupted, as early postcards show. This is a circular muddy hollow which can dry out completely in hot weather. The only other semi-permanent pond is that by Lake House Road known as the Cat and Dog Pond, presumably because it only exists when it has been raining 'cats and dogs'.
There are some drainage ditches, but few hold water for much time. The only running water used to be a year-round spring that was the source of one of the 'marshy' areas dominated by rushes that exist in some of the more poorly drained parts of the Flats. The spring, however, is now usually dry. During a period of lake creation at the turn of the 19th/20th century (when, for example, Alexandra Lake was created as part of a job creation scheme for the unemployed) it is said that the hollow at the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Centre Road was dug. It was supposed to have been a lake, but was not completed.
Plants
Scattered over the area are some thickets of
gorse
''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are n ...
and
broom
A broom (also known in some forms as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. I ...
, as well as a number of small woods and copses. Most of these were planted towards the end of the 19th century as a response to efforts by the
Epping Forest Committee to break up what was perceived as a monotonous area of grassland. Together with the many trees lining the roadsides and some avenues, they add greatly to the diversity of tree species to be found. Older than these is an avenue of trees in the NW portion of the Flats, running from close to Ferndale Road in Leytonstone to Bush Wood. This is known as Evelyn's Avenue, planted by
John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's diary, or m ...
(author of ''Sylva, or a discourse of Forest-trees'') on the instructions of Sir
Josiah Child
Sir Josiah Child, 1st Baronet, , (c. 1630/31 – 22 June 1699) was an English economist, merchant and politician. He was an economist proponent of mercantilism and governor of the East India Company. He led the company in the Anglo-Mughal War. ...
after he had purchased the estate. It formed one of a number of such avenues radiating from
Wanstead House. Consisting of
sweet chestnuts and forming one of the main approaches to Wanstead House, much of this is still visible after 300 years.
Access
![Wanstead Flats Leisure](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wanstead_Flats_Leisure.JPG)
Nearly all the perimeter of Wanstead Flats has a ditch, often with a bank, to prohibit vehicular access. The only vehicles normally allowed are service vehicles and bicycles. Horses may be taken onto the Flats and are supposed to keep to
bridle paths marked by posts. There is considerable pedestrian traffic because of the large number of people living nearby and the availability of the area for activities such as the flying of model aircraft and kites, bird watching, botanising and the exercising of people and dogs.
Portions of the Flats are also maintained as
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
pitches. Fishing in Alexandra Lake is no longer undertaken and model boating in the old Model Yacht Pond ceased when the pond no longer retained water. The area near the petrol station on Aldersbrook Road (where the sports rooms are) was used in the 1940s to house German prisoners of war. At the pointed junction of Blake Hall Road and Aldersbrook Road is a deep dip in the grass area. This was a World War II bomb crater. After the raid a wrecked United Dairies Milk lorry was found in the crater.
A weekly
parkrun
Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...
event is held on the western section of the flats, with the start at the Harrow Road Pavilion. The course is a two lap figure-of-eight, on a mixture of woodland paths and the edge of the football pitches.
References
* Much of this article is adapted with permission from the website o
Wanstead Wildlife
{{Coord, 51.5582, N, 0.0281, E, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Epping Forest District
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Newham
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Redbridge
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Waltham Forest